How To Organize Kitchen Gadgets

Organize Kitchen Gadgets And Reduce Clutter

Is your favorite aisle of the department store the kitchen gadgets aisle? It’s no wonder with all the fabulous innovations for the kitchen from high-end garlic presses and small appliances to whimsical kitchen toys and all of the necessities such as cheese graters, paring knives, and whisks. While kitchen gadgets promise to make your cooking projects easier, it doesn’t take long before you have too many and can’t find what you need when you’re cooking. While shopping for gadgets for kitchen use, shop for gadget organizers. A well-organized kitchen ensures that you will have all of your kitchen utensils close at hand.

Get Rid of the Clutter

The first rule for organizing your kitchen gadgets is to get rid of the ones you never use. The second rule is to store those you seldom use elsewhere. Once you have cleared the clutter, you can go to the kitchen gadget store and begin searching for organizers.

Take an honest look at the contents of your kitchen cabinets and drawers. Do you ever use the deep fryer or was it a one-shot disaster? If you use it once or twice a year, pack it up and put it in the garage. If you have decided that you will never use it again, donate it to charity and get it out of your house. The same goes for popcorn poppers, juicers, bread machines, ice cream makers, sandwich presses, salad spinners, and other bulky items. If you use them regularly, keep them nearby. If not, send them packing.

Once the bulkier items are out of the way, take a look at your dishes, silverware, glassware, and kitchen home gadgets. Which ones do you use? Which ones are impractical? Which ones are duplicates. Which ones are worn out? Separate these into three groups: store in the garage, give to charity, and toss out. Store your antique tea service somewhere else until you need it at your next brunch or luncheon. Give away the decorative deviled egg tray that you never use. Give away duplicates – how many vegetable peelers do you need, anyway? Keep the best and get rid of the others. Throw away the rusty cheese grater.

Don’t overlook your kitchen towels, oven mitts, and aprons. Cull these items and keep just those that are clean and in good overall condition. Get rid of the ugly ones or those that don’t perform well. For example, thin oven mitts have got to go. Why risk getting burned when you have plenty of oven mitts that serve their purpose?

Another trouble spot most kitchens have is storing Tupperware and food containers. Is your empty food container section out of control? Are you missing lids? End the frustration by culling these items dramatically. Keep a set of bowls (with lids) for leftovers, smaller containers for lunches (with lids), and even smaller containers for condiments. Throw out any containers that are missing their lids.

As you’re clearing the kitchen gadget clutter, make notes about items that you need to replace. If you just threw away a set of dull kitchen knives, you’ll need to replace them fairly soon. You will use this list later when you go to the kitchen gadget store.

Now that you’ve cleared your kitchen of the unnecessary or unwanted items, you should have recovered a great deal of counter, cabinet, and drawer space. Having extra space when you previously didn’t is a gift in itself. You’ll enjoy being able to find what you need and not having to struggle to put things away when you’re done using them.

Organizing Kitchen Gadgets

Before organizing the gadgets in the kitchen, you will need to do something with the items you’ve banished to the garage (or some other location). Shelving units work well for this purpose. Don’t just box them up and place them in the rafters or you’ll never see them again. Instead, set up shelves or use a storage locker dedicated to your kitchen items. When summer comes and you want to make homemade ice cream, you can easily go into the garage and get the ice cream maker.

With your old stuff gone, you should have space for properly storing your remaining kitchen gadgets, utensils, and small appliances. Start at the top and work your way down. For example, if you have decided that you want to keep the waffle maker for occasional use, it should go on one of the higher, harder-to-reach shelves in the cabinet. Items you use regularly such as the food processor or blender, need to be more convenient and easily accessible.

Most people store their storage containers in a kitchen cabinet or pantry. Stack the containers for optimal storage or invest in a storage container organizer. You can buy spinners that have a separate place for lids as well as space for the containers themselves. The advantage of a spinner is that all containers are neat, organized, and they require minimal space.

Decide if any of your kitchen gadgets can be mounted under the cabinets or consider replacing those with items that can. For example, replace your standalone electric can opener with an under-the-cabinet mountable can opener.

The kitchen counters are a good spot for storing common kitchen gadgets such as wooden spoons, ladles, and tongs. Use decorative canisters and place the items handle-side down inside for a nice-looking display that doesn’t require too much space. Some spice rack spinners have an opening in the center for this same purpose. Having your spoons and other commonly used items in a canister or kitchen utensil holder is convenient when cooking.

Instead of storing kitchen knives in drawers where they can get damaged (as well as cause damage to your fingers as you search the drawers), invest in a knife block. The block sits on your kitchen counter and safely stores your knives. Not only are they within easy reach, they will last longer and stay sharper longer when properly stored.

Now it’s time to deal with the drawers. Here, you’ll find measuring cups and spoons, whisks, candy thermometers, spatulas, cookie cutters, and other items. Dividers for drawers can help keep like items separate. You might consider replacing smaller measuring cups and spoons with a single cup or spoon capable of varying measurements.

Use zippered bags to store items such as cookie cutters and place these toward the back of the drawer. When you do this, you won’t have to fumble through a tangle of cookie cutters just to find your favorite spatula each morning yet they’ll be easily accessible when you want to bake cookies.

Storing and organizing kitchen gadgets involves getting rid of those you do not use, freeing up space by storing the ones you use once in a while, and making the right decisions when buying replacement gadgets. You can keep your gadgets close at hand and under control by following these simple rules. When tempted with the latest new gadget on the market, ask yourself if you will use the item regularly. If the answer is no, avoid the temptation.

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